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Open a demo trading account
Develop your trading skills on thousands of markets, and master our award-winning platform for free.1
Practise trading with £10,000 and R1,000,000 in virtual funds
Get exclusive educational content on IG Academy
Test strategies on the go with our free mobile apps
Get trading experience with an IG demo account
When you sign up for a demo account with us, you’ll be able to access two different demos via a single login:
Domestic demo account
With the domestic account, you receive R1,000,000 in virtual funds to speculate on a range of South African stocks, ETFs and the South Africa 40.
The benefit of a domestic account is that it can be used to trade local markets with local currency, meaning that exchange rates are less of a factor when deciding to open or close a position.
International demo account
With the international demo account, you get £10,000 to speculate on IG’s wider offering of over 17,000 markets.
These include major, minor and exotic forex pairs, a range of commodities, international indices and shares, as well as cryptocurrencies.
Both the domestic and international demos enable you to mimic using contracts for difference (CFDs) to speculate on the listed assets. When you trade CFDs, you are agreeing to exchange the difference in the price of an asset from when the contract is opened to when it is closed, so you can speculate on both falling and rising markets. Your profit or loss is dependent on the extent to which your forecast is correct.
Demo trading account features
- Practise with virtual funds
- News feed and live updates within the platform
- Compatible with Windows, iOS and Android devices
- Quickly navigate between charts, news and deal tickets
- Access free educational content on IG Academy
- Real-time price data to test out strategies accurately with no risk
Differences between a demo account and a live trading account
A demo account provides a risk-free environment for you to try our web trading platforms. While much of the functionality of the live platform features in the demo, there are key differences to be aware of, including (but not limited to):
- Trades made through the demo account will not be subject to slippage, interest and dividend adjustments, or out of hours price movements
- Trades may be rejected if you have insufficient funds to open them but, unlike on a live account, will never be rejected on the grounds of size or price
- You will not be charged for chart packages on a demo account
- Trades will not be closed if you have insufficient funds to cover margin and running losses, which can happen on a live account
This is by no means an exhaustive list, and therefore before opening a live account we recommend you read the information available on our website as well as the Customer Agreement to ensure that you are aware of the features of a live account.
Learn more about IG’s charting packages
Upgrade to a live trading account
Once you’ve built your confidence on a demo account, you may want to open a live account to put what you have learnt into practice.
There is no way to directly upgrade your demo account to a live account. Instead, you will need to open a new live account and deposit some funds before you can start trading the markets. With IG, this is a straightforward process – you can create a live trading account in a matter of minutes.
FAQs
Is a demo trading account for me?
If you’re new to trading, a demo account is a great way for you to build your confidence before assessing whether you are ready to trade on a live account. Equally, many traders with live accounts also use a demo account to test out new strategies and build their experience on new or less familiar markets.
Is a demo trading account free?
A demo trading account is completely free. It enables you to speculate on a range of markets with virtual funds, and access learning resources such as IG Academy to better inform your trading decisions.
What can I trade with a demo account?
When you make a demo trading account, you’ll be able to access both the international and domestic demo accounts with the same login – though there is a different selection of markets available on each.
- You can trade over 16,000 markets with the international account. This includes over 90 forex pairs, 8000 stocks and most of the major indices around the world including Wall Street, the FTSE 100 and the Germany 30
- With the domestic account, our offering is limited to domestic South African indices, stocks and ETFs – with no access to international markets like forex or commodities
How much money do I get with a demo account?
The virtual funds you receive with a demo trading account differ depending on which account you use.
- With a domestic trading account, you get R1,000,000 of virtual funds
- With an international demo account, you get £10,000 of virtual funds
How do I use the demo trading account?
You use the demo trading account in much the same way that you would use a live account, but there are some differences as a demo will not recreate all the conditions of live trading. For instance, trades placed with a demo account won’t be subject to slippage, which is something that traders should educate themselves about before starting off on the live markets.
Learn more about IG’s slippage and best execution policy
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1 Awarded ‘Best Multi Platform Provider’ and ‘Best Finance App’ at the ADVFN International Financial Awards 2020
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